Bill Clinton to hit the Virginia trail

Bill Clinton will appear at five events around Virginia with Terry McAuliffe Sunday and Monday, with more appearances to be announced next week for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

On Sunday, the former president will kick off what’s being billed as the “Putting Jobs First” tour by appearing in the outer Washington suburb of Dale City. The 12:30 p.m. rally is at a VFW post not far from the Quantico Marine Corps Base.

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Then the duo will head to Richmond for a 4:45 p.m. Sunday rally at a high school and finish the day with a 7:45 p.m. event at a community center in Hampton.

On Monday at 10:15 a.m., they will rally on the waterfront in Norfolk.

Then they’ll head across the state to Blacksburg for a 2 p.m. event on the campus of Virginia Tech.

McAuliffe’s team said additional events will be announced soon.

The goal of the barnstorming is to galvanize Democratic base turnout. Several polls have McAuliffe up in the high single digits over Republican Ken Cuccinelli, but many Democrats voters are lukewarm about their candidate. The former president may be able to drive lower-propensity voters, including African-Americans and younger people, to the polls.

McAuliffe, a former Democratic National Committee chairman, has been called the former president’s “professional best friend.” Hillary Clinton, whose 2008 presidential campaign McAuliffe chaired, did an event for McAuliffe in Falls Church last weekend. The Clintons will also have done nearly a dozen fundraising events for their friend before the Nov. 5 election.

The Cuccinelli campaign called Clinton’s trip evidence that McAuliffe is not inspiring voters and needs outside help.

“It’s not surprising that Terry McAuliffe, who has been unable to present a positive case for Virginia’s future and whose campaign has been nothing but negative and false attacks, needs folks like President Clinton to speak for him,” said spokeswoman Anna Nix.